COST OF LIVING/Domestic bottled gas price remains unchanged despite drop in global market

Taipei, July 1 (CNA) CPC Corp., Taiwan announced Friday that the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sold in cylinders for domestic use will remain unchanged in July, despite a drop in the LPG price on the international market.

The price of LPG cylinders for residential users, and propane, butane and mixed propane for industrial use, as well as LPG for the use of vehicles will all remain the same from July 2 to Aug. 1, the state-run fuel supplier said.

According to the company's price calculation formula, the recent drop in the price of LPG on the international market should lead to a reduction of NT$1 (US$0.034) per kilogram in the domestic LPG price, CPC said.

However, the decision not to lower prices accordingly was made to offset part of the losses accrued over the past few years as a result of fulfilling the government-imposed obligation to ease the financial burden on consumers, the company said.

The company said it has absorbed part of LPG price hikes since October 2019 to avoid raising prices for local consumers, amounting to NT$19.7 per kilogram.

CPC said it will adopt the same approach as it looks to claw back some of the remaining NT$18.7 per kilogram if the international price falls further.